Welcome to Swords of Speirling. We are an original fantasy site, set in a fictional world divided into seven kingdoms. We are set in the Medieval-ish/Renaissance period of this world. We have 20+ playable races available, we have no word count, and we are rated mature. Our application process is simple and to-the-point and we are LGBTQ+ friendly, straight-/cisgendered-ally friendly, and ALL racial identities-friendly. We do believe in some order, but we don't take ourselves all that seriously. Jerks need not apply. It is currently WINTER.

We are currently searching for royal family members and military characters, particularly knights.

Larisa Suthain

Orrie had been admiring the stag, until some mean adult came by to shoo him away. The kick hit him hard, and he tumbled down and shifted out of his griffin form. The little boy sat on the ground for a moment, shocked, and when an arrow whizzed by him and shot the stag dead, he started screaming and hysterically crying.

He hid his face into his knees, trying to avoid the scary man and looking at the dead stag. Some of the adults were clapping and some of them were upset and yelling. Orrie just sat there crying into his knees.

The 'Snow Mage' as she was known by in the royal court of Eacharnch was not here at the hunt under any official capacity. She was not attending as a hunter, or a healer... she was merely here to observe. Truthfully it had been her curiosity about the White Hart stag that had lured her here. She had read about the creature, and wanted to see it for herself. So naturally, when the beast had been captured and imprisoned in ice... Larisa had gone closer to see the beast herself.

The sight of a baby griffon was a mystery in itself, but when the tiny creature turned into a small boy, Larisa was mystified. A full grown adult had gone an kicked a child! How heartless could someone be?! The death of the white stag didn't seem to help matters as the tiny lad began screaming in hysterics.“I want my mom! Please! I'm scared. I just want my mom!”The poor child.

In a flurry of swirling dark blue cloak, Larisa moved away from the place she had been standing mere moments ago, and crouched down beside the child, hiding the sight of the now dead white stag behind the fabric of her cloak. She took hold of his small frame under his arms, aiming to lift him up into her arms as she stood up straight.“Come with me”, Larisa spoke softly. “Let's get you away from here”.

Larisa had no clue that the small boy that she was aiming to 'rescue' from the harshness of adults was in fact her younger brother. And that her mother was nearby as well. Her memories of the past were completely gone.

Snow blast - Larisa is able to create drifts of snow and cold air. She can use it to change the weather of a localized area, even create a snow field inside a large room, and in her more playful moments, build snow sculptures.

Ice shards - this is the most dangerous of her powers. She is able to create razor sharp spikes of ice that fly away from her body. When she has total control over the power Larisa is able to direct which direction the ice shards will fire in, but when her control wanes, the ice shards fire off in all directions.

Cold breath - this power is very simple in comparison to the others. Larisa is able to simply breathe some of her icy magic onto a body of water - be it a goblet, a pond, or a lake - and freeze it entirely. The larger the body of water, the longer it takes to freeze, but once it is frozen, the ice is strong enough to stand on.

PLAY-BY;; Georgina HaigHEIGHT;; 5'7"WEIGHT;; 55kg (121 lbs)PHYSICAL BUILD;; Slender. She is curvy, but she is not the full classic hourglass. Her curves are subtle in comparison.HAIR COLOR/LENGTH/STYLE;; Her hair is pure white in colour and is usually kept in a braid that hangs over one shoulder. When freed from the braid, her hair reaches below her waist in length, but in the braid it only reaches the middle of her back.EYE COLOR;; Blue (Her eyes turn completely white and glowing when she is actively calling on her ice magic)COMPLEXION;; PaleVOICE;; Sample: ClickPERMANENT MARKINGS;; N/APETS OR ANIMAL FAMILIARS;;[dohtml]<table bgcolor="#7e7961" background=http://i53.tinypic.com/27xkzyp.png><tr><td></td><td align="justify"><font color="#000000">Merlyn - a piebald splash Gypsy Cob stallion. Originally from the wild, the leader of a herd. Merlyn was the third generation leader of the herd. Eventually the herd was rounded up, separated, and sold. Merlyn is a fiery stallion, with a hot temperament, and only really tolerates Larisa at the best of times.</font></td></tr><tr><td></td><td align="justify"><font color="#000000">Arianrhod - a tri-color paint Gypsy Cob mare. Called Aria for short. Was the only mare that Merlyn was able to keep with him. Larisa purchased Aria as a companion animal for Merlyn. Larisa believes that the mare is carrying their unborn foal.</font></td></tr><tr><td></td><td align="justify"><font color="#000000">Duchess - a female pale grey Belgian Shepherd. Larisa can't really claim ownership of Duchess, as the canine truly belongs to her fiance. But Duchess showed such a liking to Larisa that the woman could not bring herself to turn the animal away whenever it decides to follow her. Larisa is also quite fond of the dog.</font></td></tr></table>[/dohtml]WEAPONS;;[dohtml]<table bgcolor="#7e7961" background=http://i53.tinypic.com/27xkzyp.png><tr><td></td><td align="justify"><font color="#000000">Larisa carries a staff that is made of red wood, gold wire, and gold paint, with a large blue crystal embedded into the top. It can be used as a quarterstaff, or to amplify her ice magic. One would not want to be on the receiving end of this staff when Larisa starts swinging it around.</font></td></tr></table>[/dohtml]PERSONALITY;;

Charming - This snow mage has an air and grace about her that could rival that of a princess. Pair that with a friendly nature, and an intelligent mind and you have one very charming young lady.

Witty - Larisa loves a good joke. She will even tolerate bad puns. But one cannot say that Larisa doesn't give as good as she gets. Her humor ranges between bad puns, to intelligent scenarios design to make one think before arriving at the humorous conclusion. Sometimes her jokes come out as long winded stories.

Quick study - Larisa learns things very quickly. Written information needs to be read only once, and she learns physical skills in half the average time. Magical skills, however, tend to take longer to learn than anything else. Once Larisa knows something, she never forgets it.

Protective - Larisa is intensely protective of her family and friends. Granted, she can no longer remember who her family members are, but she extends the same sense of protection to her new family. Larisa is also very protective of her animals, especially Houdain, whom many would love to hunt for his rare white pelt.

FLAWS;;

"Immature" - Larisa's physical and mental age does not match that of her technical age. She is technically aged 168 years, but her mental state and appearance belong to that of an 18 year old. Larisa is not as mature as a young woman of her age should really be.

Amnesia - Larisa cannot remember her past before she was unfrozen. It is simply a blurry mess of images, with no rhyme or reason. Her clearest memory is that of a sweep of black hair, but Larisa knows nothing of what that could mean. A person she once knew? Friend? Family? None of it makes any sense to her.

Untrusting - Larisa is more or less alone in the world. Her remaining siblings are still encased in ice (to the best of her knowledge), and the first person she met after being freed from the permafrost unceremoniously abandoned her to whatever fate awaited her. Larisa doesn't trust people with her secrets, or to do things for her. Anything that needs to be done, this icy mage will do for herself. The only 'people' that Larisa can truly trust are Houdain and Xanda.

Paranoid - Ever since Lyr told Larisa that she had been frozen as a statue in permafrost, Larisa has been worried frantic that whatever, or whoever, placed her in such an icy prison will find her and do it again. She is doubly worried now that the family who took her in will become victims of a frozen prison as well.

Impious - Even if she is partly descendant from Demigods, and therefore the gods as well, Larisa has a distinct lack of faith or trust in any form of deity. The gods didn't prevent her family from being attacked and frozen in ice, so why should she trust them with other things, when they couldn't be bothered saving some of their descendants from a horrible fate?

SECRETS;;

An icy prisonLarisa does not let anyone know that she had been an ice statue until a year ago. The only other person that knows that she was frozen is Lyr. Houdain also shares this secret.

Almost a killerIt is a secret shared with her betrothed that upon their first meeting, she almost killed him with her ice shards power. It is something that they laugh about together in private, but they would never publicly admit that it had happened.

Hair of a different colourBefore Larisa was trapped in permafrost, she had hair that was black as ebony, but it changed to white during her frozen period. Larisa does not remember having hair that wasn't white, so it is even a secret from herself.

GOALS;;

The return of memoriesLarisa wants to know of her past. She wants to discover who she was before becoming trapped in a statue of ice for 149 years.

The family I barely rememberConnected to regaining her memories of the past, Larisa wants to discover the identities of the other ice statues that had surrounded her in the fortress of ice. She is fairly certain they were her family. But they no longer stand in the hall of ice. So where have they gone? Larisa wants to find them... learn who they are. And hope that they can help her discover who she was in the past.

Control the ice and snowLarisa wants to master her powers. She does not want to become a danger to other people by a lack of control, and having no control at all worries her greatly

The 'Ice Queen'Who is the Ice Queen? Not even Larisa knows, but she wishes to find out. Perhaps this 'ice queen' has a few secrets that may help towards controlling her own ice based powers.

Family Friends[dohtml]<table bgcolor="#7e7961" background=http://i53.tinypic.com/27xkzyp.png><tr><td></td><td align="justify"><font color="#000000">Houdain - a talking elk stag of pure white in colouring. He was the first "person" (after Lyr) that Larisa ran into after being freed from her icy prison. He has helped the young woman find her way in the world and acts as an adviser of sorts to the young mage. Houdain is also Larisa's dearest friend, knowing of her dreams and secrets.</font></td></tr></table>[/dohtml]HISTORY;;

Life began as being born the second child of Orin Elentari and her husband, M. Celydryn. Their families had been at war with each other for so long, that the relationship between the couple was considered quite taboo. They had fought against all odds in order to be together and start their own small family. Aella was their second child, preceded by her brother, Kai. She would later have younger siblings: Alaric, Nieve, Orrie, Nausicaa, and Toberius.

Life was happy, despite the war going on between the opposing sides of the extended family. But for the most part, Aella's parents ignored the outside world, on focused on their young ones. Aella loved all her family dearly, even those that looked down on her because of her 'tainted' heritage. But it never bothered her really. She was young and innocent back then.

She had been given toys, clothes and books as gifts. And she was even spoiled on her fifth birthday with her very own pony to ride. The pony was named Trusty. It had been one of the best birthdays Aella ever recalled. Although Trusty had been quite old by then, a veteran of teaching little children to ride over the years. Aella cried a storm when the old pony passed away, wanting him to stay with her forever. Odarion held his daughter tightly and told her that Trusty had been given the best last years of his life at her side, and that was a gift he would take with him into the heavens, or even into the next life if the gods felt the resurrect him. Aella stopped crying after that point.

When she was eight years old, Aella began to show signs of magical talent. Unsurprisingly, she had inherited ice based magic from her mother. And soon training under the more experience mage on how to control her skills began. Though some of their training seemed to dissolve into simply playing with the ice and snow that Orin and Aella were able to craft. The more Aella used her powers, the more she gained control over them.

Everything changed when the Swamp Witch came calling. The first thing that happened was a curse being placed on her father, forcing him to try and kill Aella's mother... but Orin killed him first. Aella was devastated with what happened... both thankful that her mother was still alive, but hating her for being forced to kill her father. What happened next.... no one could have imagined.

The Swamp Witch tore out Orin's heart, and ordered her to kill what was left of the family. Aella pleaded, begged, shouted and screamed at her mother to stop. After Aella witnessed her brother Kai be frozen, she knew that she had to act. With tears in her eyes, Aella tried to fight her, using her own ice based powers in an effort to save her younger siblings; much like her own mother had when fighting the Ice Knight in the past. But even as she fought, she saw her other siblings become frozen, one by one, until there was only herself left. In the end she was defeated... trapped in permafrost as a frozen statue. One small part of her was glad that she could join her siblings in whatever eternity had come for them.

And yet, in a way, though Aella didn't know it, being frozen in ice was the last saving grace of the woman she had known as her mother... despite the fact that she no longer had a heart. Freezing the family, rather than murdering them, was the only way that Orin could have followed the Swamp Witch's orders, and yet ensure Aella and her siblings had a possible future.

There she stood in her family home, now a fortress of ice, her body still showing the last signs of magical battle, her arms outstretched. Many years past, time moving around Aella's home, but not for the people trapped in the ice. One would think that Aella would have remained as a frozen statue for all time. But the fates had decided otherwise. A strange woman had come to Aella's family home, and suddenly lungs that had not worked for 149 years were suddenly breathing again. The woman collapsed to the floor, free of her fate as a frozen statue. As blurry vision faded into clarity, Aella finally saw the stranger.... with her vibrant purple hair. Little did Aella know that her own black hair had bleached to white while she had been frozen in ice.

The question of "who are you?" certainly passed between them both, but in Aella's case... her memories had not returned to her. She could not recall anything - her name, her childhood, her parents, not even her siblings. Lyr, was the other woman's name and supposedly they were sisters. Aella begged her to tell her what her name was, but Lyr couldn't answer that. "Look Snow, I don't know what your name might have been". With that, Lyr left. Uncertain of what to do, the young woman staggeringly rose to her feet, and made her way through the halls of the castle. In the past she recalled every turn of the hall, every crack in the wall, but now she remembered naught. It was during this wandering around that she found a wooden staff with a large blue crystal at one end. It was a simple, yet elegant staff. The young woman decided to take it with her. The staff even helped her walk while the muscles in her legs that had been dormant for years remembered how to move.

When her legs were strong enough, the young woman left the frozen castle that had once been her home, and ventured out into the world that had changed so much during the last 149 years. Her first stop was a creek, where she drank deeply, trying to decide on what to do, and feeling scared at being alone in a world that she didn't understand. But she wasn't alone at all. It was there that she met an elk stag of pure white, a rare colour for his species. But what surprised her most was the fact that he could talk. He introduced himself as Houdain, and asked for her name. Unable to tell him what she was called, other than Lyr having address her as 'Snow'. Houdain scoffed at the idea of calling her by such a name and declared that he would call her Larisa, with a second name of Nimue. She adopted the same last name as Lyr, having gotten that much information. And so began her new identity as 'Larisa Nimue Snædís'.

After that point, Houdain seemed like a god-send. Larisa didn't know what she would have done without his guiding presence in this strange world around her. On his advice, Houdain and Larisa braved the frozen fortress that had once been her home on the search for supplies that would assist her in the world around them. There wasn't much to find. Time had not been kind on the family home. What they did find were a handful of dusty old spelltomes, old history books and a hairbrush. Back in the world around the frozen fortress, Larisa tried her hand at some of the magic spells mentioned in the books, out of curiosity to see if she had magic or not. After a string of dead ends, there was at last a result. Of all the elements, Larisa was able to control ice and snow. For a terrifying moment, Larisa feared that she might have been the one to have frozen all those people she had seen. Houdain calmed her fears by saying, "How could it have been you, if you had been frozen as well?"

Larisa and Houdain lived in the forest for weeks, surviving on wild grown food, while the seemingly young woman learned to control her ice based powers once more. She turned out to be a quick study, mastering the ability to create banks of snow in a few short days. Her ability to freeze a body of water simply by breathing on it was discovered purely by accident, and Larisa doubted that she would ever gain control over that power... it was so unpredictable. But the most dangerous of her powers was yet to be discovered and it would come out when she met a man.

Hunting dogs had caught the scent of a stag, and unfortunately that stag was Houdain. Talking or not, he was still an animal and that ran the risk of being hunted for food or sport... sometimes both rolled into one. Houdain had been fleeing for his life for quite some time when he rejoined Larisa at their camp, the hounds following closely behind... and behind them, a handsome young man. This was the first person, aside from Lyr, that Larisa had met since being unfrozen. In her anger of Houdain being hunted, she forgot all social graces and picked up rock, throwing it at the man, screaming at him, demanding to know why he was hunting her friend. The man had simply laughed, and dodged the rock easily, before dismounting.

Larisa was on high alert at that point, suspicious as to why the stranger had gotten down from his horse. The man introduced himself as Xanda Bergstrom, whose family estate was south from her modest camp. He meant her no harm. "By what name may I call you, my lady?" Hesitant, Larisa introduced herself... using her new name for the first time since Houdain had given it to her. "That is a very pretty name." Larisa narrowed her eyes. She was wary as to why he was paying her compliments. He had not explained why he had been hunting Houdain in the first place. "How could I know he was your friend? I've never seen you before". That was a true enough statement to say the least, but as Larisa turned to leave and hide with Houdain, Xanda reached for her arm, asking her not to leave. Startled, Larisa turned suddenly, her hand flying out and several shards of piercing ice flew from her hand. One such shard stabbed Xanda in the arm. Having been unaware that she possessed such a violent power, Larisa quickly apologized for striking him, removing the shard from his arm. Xanda merely laughed, tearing some fabric from his own shirt to use as a makeshift bandage. "I guess I deserved that. I apologize for hunting your friend". Larisa smiled at him at that point.

Xanda and Larisa sat together for what seemed to be hours, simply talking. She learned that he was the eldest of his siblings - with three sisters and a brother. His family was wealthy and influential amongst the noble houses of Eacharnach. Larisa couldn't say much about her own family - she didn't remember them, and who would believe her that they were currently trapped as statues of frozen ice. There wasn't even any names for them in her limited memory. Hell, she had forgotten her own birth name. The most she could say was that it was just her and Houdain now - and how the stag had found her and helped her survive. "Come stay with my family". Xanda offered at that point, having seen in her eyes how lonely she truly felt. With some encouragement from Houdain, Larisa agreed. After gathering her meager belongings, Larisa rode on the back of Xanda's with him, and it was quite a thrilling ride. Everything that followed felt like a whirlwind of events. Xanda's parents were quite welcoming, his mother, Kalianah, in particular quite shocked and sympathetic about how he had found her. His father, Laran, on the other hand, was loud and boastful, acting as if his son had braved a dragon to rescue a princess, rather than a mage lost in the wilderness.

Larisa was placed into the care of Xanda's eldest sister, Katherine, for the time being. A bath was drawn so that she could give herself a first real wash since becoming unfrozen, then given a clean robe to wear until new clothes could be purchased. Kalianah and Laran both promised that Larisa could stay with them as long as she needed, and Houdain would be comfortable in the stables and fields of the Bergstrom family estate - protected from hunters and poachers. What Larisa was particularly surprised about was that the family decided that one of the guest rooms would become hers for as long as she was there - and decorated however she desired. Their generosity was overwhelming. The first night in her new room was a mixture of sublime comfort, and restlessness.

The next day Kalianah had taken the seemingly young woman out shopping for new clothing and other accessories. Larsia carried her staff wherever they went, unwilling to leave it behind, as she had grown quite attached to it. In fact it was the staff that convinced the women of what colour gowns would best suit Larisa. Within an hour she had a wardrobes worth of dresses in various shades of blue and green. Kalianah had even purchased jewellery and shoes that matched those colours and shades to complete the sets.

Life settled into a relative calm after that. Larisa settled into a routine. She practiced her magic, honing her craft to the best of her abilities, though she still continually struggled with the Ice Shards power. The Snow Blast power proved to be a nuisance for the estate staff, as cleaning up melting snow was troublesome at best. Xanda also helped Larisa learn whatever history she had missed - which was a lot. Though the man simply assumed it was a lack of schooling, rather than the truth of Larisa having been frozen as a statue the whole time. Every second day, Xanda and his father taught Larisa how to ride a horse on her own. Laran even taught Larisa how to use her staff as a weapon. Living at the estate provided a much needed sense of family.

Two months after her arrival at the estate, the Bergstrom family all attended the royal court at the capital city of Freumhach. There were several notable families that Larisa met that day, and it didn't take much to notice that she was always referred to as the Bergstrom family "ward". It meant that in a way, Larisa was part of the family now. It was later that Larisa learned that she had been brought along with the family to Freumhach for two reasons: one was so Kalianah could show off the fine young lady that they had helped, and the other reason was to investigate eligible bachelors.

By the time of Larisa's birthday in August, Xanda freely confessed his feelings for her. Since the time of her introduction at the royal court, Xanda had grown increasingly jealous over the stream of eligible young men that came calling at the family door to spend time with the 'white haired lady'. Many seemed to view her simply as a oddity to be paraded. In the end Xanda admitted the feelings of his heart, and a desire to keep her from those that did not see the person that she was. Flattered, Larisa also admitted that she had formed a sense of affection for him. Largely due to all the time he had spent helping her. They announced their engagement the next day.

But a sense of purpose was still missing.

Shortly after her engagement, Larisa was summoned to the royal court. Not knowing of why someone would want to see her, Larisa went to the palace as instructed. Upon arrival, she was greeted by one of the courtiers, a seneschal (administrative officer) in the employ of the royal house. The official told her that word of her talents as a mage had reached their ears, and that she was being offered a position as a Court Witch. "We have not heard of another with ice based magic since the Ice Queen". Just heard that title had her intrigued. Ice Queen? Was there another out there who possessed the same basis of magic as Larisa did? Larisa was told that if she accepted the role of Court Witch, she would be full access of the royal library for whatever research she might require, and an income.

After talking over the offer with her betrothed and future in-laws, Larisa accepted the job offer with the royal court. She became a Court Witch, with the working title of 'The Snow Mage', assigned to her by those she now worked for. At last there was a sense of purpose to her life.

It has now been a full year since Larisa was released from her icy statue prison and began her new life, having completely forgotten the old one due to her amnesia. She has seen Lyr a few times since they had gone their separate ways (and made the painstaking effort to forgive her sister). Larisa has also shared the secret of her true age with her husband to be, and thankfully he didn't really seem to mind - he cared more that she hadn't told him sooner, rather than how old she was.